Mike Dunham will no longer be available to NHL teams looking for a warm body in goal
as he retired to become the New York Islanders' goaltender coach. "I'm very proud of my career and really enjoyed playing my final year on Long Island," the former netminder said in a release. "I'm very appreciative of (coach) Ted (Nolan) giving me this opportunity to be part of his coaching staff and work with all of the goaltenders in our system. I'm really looking forward to beginning my coaching career."
Dunham also played for the Devils, Predators, Rangers and Thrashers, compiling a 141-178-44 career record, 2.74 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. He played for the U.S. at three Olympics.
While Dunham has had a solid career, more was always expected of the tall netminder.
Once upon a time, Dunham was the backup to Martin Brodeur in New Jersey, and a bonafide top prospect. After putting up an impressive 91.3SV% in limited action with the Devils, the Nashville Predators decided to make him their #1 goalie via the expansion draft. Dunham, sick of playing mere minutes under Martin Brodeur, welcomed the opportunity with open arms.
Dunham, unfortunately, was rarely ever able to leverage his full potential to be a bonafide #1 star, having just
two great seasons (2001 and 2003) where his SV% was over 92%. For the most part, Dunham was a average-at-best goaltender, and fought constancy issues and numerous groin injuries. Dunham never played more than 58 games in a season, and couldn't be counted on to 'be there' as a #1 goalie should.
Now? He's going to tutor the goalie he was backing up last year (Rick DiPietro), and give his ripped-up groin a good rest.
February 25th, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA.
